Information on Loughborough

Loughborough and Charnwood Recycling Pledge

Posted on 15/07/2008

drinks carton

Charnwood Borough Council yesterday (14th June 2008) joined a national pledge to encourage more people to recycle their cartons.

To celebrate that cartons can now be recycled in Charnwood, the Council and Tetra Pak have joined forces to raise awareness of the new carton collection facilities. The Council is encouraging residents to pledge to recycle their cartons by visiting www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk/ipledge and clicking on the I Pledge To Recycle My Cartons button. By clicking on the button, residents of Charnwood will see their pledge come to life, in the shape of a new carton sitting on a tree, alongside the pledges of other committed recyclers from across the country.

Not only will people across the UK be reinforcing their own commitment to recycle their cartons, but one lucky ‘pledgee’ will win the chance for Tetra Pak to help transform a local community green area of their Council’s choice, as well as a Nintendo Wii for themselves.

Paper-based liquid food and drinks cartons (such as those made by Tetra Pak) are ‘just one more thing’ that residents can recycle after the Council recently worked with the carton industry to introduce facilities.

New facilities in Charnwood have meant that used cartons are now being recycled successfully through special collection bins at:

  • Sainsbury’s, Greenclose Lane, Loughborough
  • Somerfield, Melton Road, Syston
  • Tesco, Park Road, Loughborough
  • Somerfield, Wanlip Lane, Birstall
  • Asda, Barkby Thorpe Road, Thurmaston

Once collected, they are taken away to be baled, stored at central hubs until full truck loads are ready, and then transported to a recycling mill. Cartons can be recycled into a number of different products, ranging from plasterboard liner to high-strength paper bags and envelopes.

Cllr Mike Preston said: “We are supporting the carton recycling pledge to bust the myth that cartons can’t be recycled – they really can. In fact, I’ve already signed up to the pledge myself.

“Residents have responded really well to the prospect of carton recycling in the area, but we wanted to do something exciting to encourage them to recycle as many of their cartons as possible, and make them realise they are part of a bigger movement to recycle more cartons than ever.”

Fay Dashper, National Recycling Operations Manager at Tetra Pak, added: “The summer is a great opportunity to remind residents that they can recycle their smoothie, juice or milk cartons, rather than sending them to landfill. We have seen a fantastic uplift in the number of cartons being recycled in Charnwood, and we want to encourage those keen recyclers to spread the message and get their friends and family to sign up to the carton recycling pledge - I Pledge To Recycle My Cartons.”

 

Each year, UK beverage carton manufacturers produce approximately 55,000 tonnes of paper-based cartons for milk and juices. Increasingly, even chopped tomatoes and wine are packaged in cartons. Since the introduction of carton recycling schemes across the nation by the Alliance for Beverage Cartons and the Environment (ACE UK) last year, cartons can now be recycled in 82% of the UK, and Tetra Pak plans to achieve national coverage by the end of this year.

Once sufficient quantities of cartons are collected and baled in the regional hubs, the cartons are then recycled in a paper mill, currently located at the Orebro mill in Sweden. Tetra Pak continues to work with new paper mills to trial carton recycling in the UK to ensure the industry can cater for the increase in carton recycling, as more areas come on board. In the interim, the bales are transported to mills in neighbouring countries to minimise the distance the material has to travel to be recycled. As a carbon neutral company, Tetra Pak is measuring these trips and ensuring that the carbon emitted is offset with credible offsets.

For more information on recycling in Charnwood, call 01509 634 563 or visit www.charnwood.gov.uk. For more information on beverage carton recycling, visit www.tetrapakrecycling.co.uk or www.ace-uk.co.uk.

Please remember: wash and squash your cartons before recycling. Please only put paper-based liquid food and drinks cartons in the recycling bins – i.e. no plastic, card, cans, glass, plastic bags or foils - unless otherwise specified on the bin.